I used ContiBelt when I did mine, never knew Gates was an OEM for that part.

drove a little past 2200rpm yaay! lol

Gates is an OE/OEM supplier for manufacturers other then BMW but show BMW fitment on their application charts. Tried to save 45 mins of driving (to Classic BMW) by going with Gates, the result was increased repair time and 2 trips to O'Rilley Auto (pick-up/return).

Went with Meyle 313 011 4300 pump, came in an original Meyle Products Germany box with a TINY Meyle "Made in PR of China" sticker on the box. When the hell did Meyle start having these made in China?

Would not have bought had I known it was made in China!

When I go to a repair shop to have something done, i ask them what part they are using... they are like, OEM or better... I am - OK, but who is the manufacturer, and what country it is made in? they are like, uh, don't know... so, they start calling around, and at the end of the day, the parts they are using are made in china, sold at UK prices... so, they offer me to use the OE part from a dealer, then I ask them if I can use my parts, and their labor...

in many instances this comes to a quick conclusion - they don't want to deal with my parts, as there is not enough mark up for them on the labor...

If the item is critical (hoses, belts, pumps, etc...) i would use OE or OEM or a reputable aftermarket (say, PowerFlex for the bushes)... if the item is not critical - I might try the chinese crap... just to hold the fort down...

Yeah, I'm pissed I paid for Meyle quality and have a PR of China pump. This is getting to the point where I will ONLY source my DIY pumps/belts/hoses/electrical parts thru an authorized BMW distributor. I will GLADLY pay an extra $50 for a made in Germany pump!

I like how repair shops will respond to the owner supplied parts question with "we don't want to mess with parts that don't fit", when most owners will supply parts of better quality then they use. They get a $50 made in China part and charge $200 more, pure profit and the pump will fail in about 2 yrs. More work for them!

Wow thats pretty bad, I assumed Meyle was a bit better than that and had no clue some of their parts are made in the People's Republic.

When it comes time to do my water pump I will stick to OE or the pricier but damn nice EMP Stewart pump.

they outsource many things now, even the car assembly - the X is made in the US, my wife's 335 (what is the new numbering? F80?) is made in South Africa... there are X5s made in Russia (albeit in Kaliningrad/Konnigsberg, on the border with EU)

I think the main reasons mechanics don't like using your parts is because they won't be able to honor any type of warranty on it. If they use their own part and it breaks, it is on them to fix it. If they use your part and it breaks, not due to installation, then you're still going back to them and complaining that they didn't fix the car correctly. It's a weird situation for them as a customer's part broke, but the customer is always right, so they are the ones that "broke" the part.

While i understand the warranty on the part and labor, I am yet to take full advantage of it - I had a part that broke on a car, the part was sourced and installed by a local Firestone... since they were very nice to me (and i had a lifetime alignment with them!) i went to them about the replacement of the part... I forgot they already fixed that problem once before, but it came up on their computer... they covered the part but not the labor, i paid for the labor...

You would think the fact that Bavauto has been in operation for over 40 yrs and is owned/run by a hardcore group of BMW owners they would not sell China produced parts. Or at a minimum, CLEARLY DEFINE WHAT ITEMS ARE MADE IN CHINA in their online discription!!! This is a dropped ball for BavAuto.